In February a company sold one December 40,000 pound (about 18 metric tons) lean hog futures contract. It closed out its position in May.

The spot price was $0.68 per pound in February. The December futures price was $0.70 per pound when the trader entered into the contract in February, $0.60 when he closed out his position in May, and $0.55 when the contract matured in December.

Alice, Bob, Chris and Delta are traders in the futures market. The following trades occur over a single day in a newly-opened equity index future that matures in one year which the exchange just made available.